The Samsung SE-218BB is a great choice for anyone looking to buy a portable DVD writer for their ultrabook or laptop computer. Along with a good looking design, this thin and lightweight drive offers a number of useful features as well as some of the fastest reading and writing speeds available on a portable unit.
The SE-218BB performed relatively well when writing to DVD+R and DVD-R media. In our tests, the drive took about 11 minutes to burn an entire 4.7GB DVD. It also turned in some respectable times with DVD±RW and DVD-RAM discs and, thanks to its 6x DVD±R DL writing speed, it took less than 23 minutes to burn 8GB of data. When it came to reading DVD's, the SE-218BB was able to read data and video DVD-ROM's as well as most recordable media at 8x.
Reading CD's wasn't a problem for the SE-218BB either. While its access times were a little higher than I would have liked, the drive read both data and audio CD's at 24x. As a writer, the SE-218BB performed as expected. The drive was relatively quick when writing to CD-R and CD-RW media and its writing quality was quite good.
Samsung's portable DVD writer also has its share of features. A truly portable drive, the SE-218BB is powered completely off a computer's USB bus. Without the need for an AC power source, you can burn and play DVD's wherever you go. The drive also features Super Link buffer underrun protection and has the ability to set the book type of DVD+R and DVD+R DL media. Last but not least, the SE-218BB supports Samsung's AV connectivity technology which lets you connect the drive to an AV device via USB and play back the music, pictures and videos stored on a CD or DVD.
The Samsung SE-218BB is available now and can be purchased from Amazon or the retailers listed on Pricegrabber for less than $40.
| Samsung SE-218BB Portable 8x DVD Writer |
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| Features: Installation: Performance: |
9 9 8 |
| Overall: | 9 |
Highs:
- World’s thinnest external optical disc drive
- Writes to DVD-R and DVD+R media at 8x
- Writes to DVD+RW media at 8x
- Writes to DVD-RW media at 6x
- Writes to DVD+R DL and DVD-R DL media at 6x
- Reads single layer DVD-ROM's at 8x
- Reads DVD±R, DVD±RW and DVD±R DL media at 8x
- Reads and writes to DVD-RAM media at 5x
- Features 24x CD-R and CD-RW writing speeds
- Good CD and DVD writing quality
- Features Super Link buffer underrun protection
- Supports Samsung's AV connectivity technology
- Compact and lightweight design
- Powered off the USB bus
- Supports bitsetting for DVD+R and DVD+R DL media
- Includes software from Nero
- Affordably priced
Lows:
- Cannot set the book type of DVD+RW media
- High access times
- Only a 1MB buffer
